A Facebook user has been jailed for more than three-and-a-half years for encouraging violent behaviour during the English riots of 2011.

Anthony Gristock, 24 of Roath, Cardiff pleaded guilty to the charge under the Serious Crime Act of 2007 in July this year.

During a sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court, Judge Eleri Rees said messages the defendant posted on the social media site “displayed arrogance” and were created as “something to enjoy and create more mayhem.”

The court heard how nationwide police were monitoring computer network sites in connection with riots being staged in English cities in early August last year.

The London riots where sparked by the death of Mark Duggan who was shot by police on August 7 last year.

Looting began in the London borough of Tottenham but later engulfed 14 other districts of the English capital before spreading to other major cities including Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Bristol.

On August 9 officers arrested two men, including Gristock, for creating a Facebook page called “Bring the riots to Cardiff.”

The other man, Jamie Counsel, 24, of The Walk, Cardiff, was jailed for more than three years earlier this year after he admitted the same offence as Gristock.

Mr Gristock was found to have created an event on the Facebook page entitled “Riot, Looting and Burglary at Cardiff County Council.”

A second event entitled “Looting Cardiff, Mash-up Queen Street” was also created.

Prosecuting, David Webster said that the defendant initially denied involvement with the website, claiming that friends had accessed his computer and carried out the offence.

However, while in custody, telephone messages between Gristock and friends were recorded by police who were monitoring his conversations.

Mr Webster said the defendant was trying to “disguise his involvement by encouraging others to post messages on the site while he was on remand".

Gristock posted messages on Facebook suggesting targets for rioting.

He wrote: “Rolex, Post Office, Boss, the land of opportunity.”

In another message he told website users to target “the real banks” and named The Sony Centre and the Apple Store in Cardiff city centre as possible sites for disturbance.

The defendant also posted messages to fellow Facebook users who had criticised the event page.

In one such message he said: “Government officials, police, politicians are the same big gang of people, they don’t understand the poor and vulnerable.”

Speaking specifically about the riots he said: “It’s people who have houses and nice jobs that are worried, not desperate people.”

In mitigation David Elias said the legal system was currently experiencing a period when the courts were “struggling to find the right footing for sentences of offences committed on the internet.”

He said the Facebook group created by Gristock “did not lead to any violence at all”.

He said: “There was no congregation of people in any place.”

Mr Elias also explained reasons why his client had failed to attend a previous sentencing hearing in September, resulting in his arrest and remand in custody.

He said: “When Police arrived at his house on that day he was about to leave for court, he was late.

“It was an unfortunate set of circumstances, his lateness and the speedy response of police.”

Gristock was sentenced to three years and seven months imprisonment for assisting violent disorder and a further one month sentence, to run consecutively for failing to surrender to police.

The defendant was told that 285 days he had already spent in custody would count towards the sentence.

The court heard that Gristock had 16 previous convictions including the assault of a police officer in March 2011.

Judge Eleri Rees said his history demonstrated a “longstanding disrespect towards authority.”

She added: “The court has an overwhelming obligation of service to the community to protect homes and businesses where we live and work.”